10 Good Songs From (Relatively) Bad Albums

At the risk of starting another deluge of comments from enraged Nicki Minaj fans, our post a few days back about the best opening lines in music got us thinking about various things, and one of those things was how “Did It On ‘Em” – a suggestion from one of our readers of an opening line we should have included – shines as a killer song on a largely underwhelming record. Of course, Nicki’s not the first artist to deliver a shitty record that is enlightened by one or two great songs, so here’s a selection of most excellent songs from records that paled in comparison to their best moment.

It’s a shame about Nicki. Her history could start and finish with the killer verse off “Monster” and she’d still warrant a decent mention in the history of post-millennial hip hop, which only makes it all the more disappointing that Pink Friday was such a pile of homogenized, commercial pap. But even though the album was largely forgettable, there were flashes of the manic energy that characterised her “Monster” star turn – and the best track by far is “Did It On ‘Em,” which contains the immortal line “If I had a dick, I’d pull it out and piss on ‘em.” Eeek.